Adult Web Site Suffix Rejected By Regulator

Apr 01, 12:48 PM

Current Headlines: By Thomas Crampton

A longstanding proposal to create a specialized .xxx suffix for adult entertainment Web sites received a final rejection Friday by the agency governing the Internet address system. The plan, first introduced seven years ago by ICM Registry, was rejected by a vote of nine to five by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, at a meeting in Lisbon. The issue will not be brought for further discussion by Icann, but ICM Registry, the Florida company that was also applying to manage the address, said it would continue to pursue the issue.

"We are extremely disappointed by the board's action today," Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM Registry, said Friday. "It is not supportable for any of the reasons articulated by the board."

Board members who voted against the plan expressed concern that it would compel Icann to get involved in regulating content, among other issues.

To alleviate concerns over promoting adult content, ICM had said that .xxx Web sites would only be issued to adult entertainment providers identifying themselves as complying with a set of business practices that included a ban on child pornography and warnings about content.

ICM had argued that creation of the domain would enhance safety for young users by clearly defining .xxx sites as a no-go zone.

Described last week by Paul Twomey, Icann's chief executive, as "clearly controversial, clearly polarizing," the issue has been discussed among Internet aficionados and on blogs.

Some who objected to the proposal included companies in the adult entertainment industry as well as religious groups. Adult entertainment executives raised fears that use of the domain, although voluntary, could open the way for governments to isolate adult Web sites into a single part of the Internet.

Religious groups expressed concern that creation of a .xxx domain would only serve to encourage creation of more adult content.

Others warned the move would create an instant bonanza for ICM Registry, since companies with existing Web sites would be compelled to buy .xxx domain names to prevent someone else from creating a site using their company name.

Supporters of the .xxx proposal on the Icann board argued that the agency's proper role is to serve as a technical arbiter about the feasibility of new domain names, not to discriminate on the basis of content.

The decision to reject .xxx was "weak and unprincipled," according to one board member, Susan Crawford.

"No centralized authority should set itself up as the arbiter of what people may do together online," Crawford said in a statement to the board Friday, adding that political pressures played an undue role.

"This is not a technical stability and security question."

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